Gilgit-Baltistan is known for its serenity and nature but the beauty fails to cloud grievances of its two million inhabitants who have been deprived of their constitutional, democratic and basic human rights for over seven decades now.
State tied up the region with Kashmir dispute in anticipation to garner votes if a plebiscite is held on the Kashmir dispute.
The result led this region to be declared a “disputed territory” in UN resolutions that the Supreme Court of Pakistan reiterated in its verdict on 17th January 2019 vindicating the stance of the progressive and nationalist forces.
The ruling class mainstream political parties have been operating in the disputed region since the ’70s. Unfortunately, these parties whenever came into power have neither took pragmatic steps to give GB representation in the Senate and National Assembly of Pakistan nor worked for internal autonomy.
The transition of governments one after another remained unfruitful for the people of GB as they have been introducing cosmetic measures in the name of reforms and orders to dilute people’s anger and frustration.
A quick view of history shows that no strong and unified voice has so far been raised from the mountainous regions because of a host of reasons. But the main reasons are deep state’s interference in political affairs; sectarian and ethnic discord created by the bureaucracy among the people; state repression, intimidation and political victimization of nationalist and progressive activists.
The political activists are framed via draconian laws under the garb of “anti-state” activities, or forced into exile, put on Schedule 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act literally under house arrest to muzzle any voice against the loot and plunder of the natural resources of the region.
Baba Jan and his 12 comrades have been languishing in jail since 2011 for voicing people to resist foreigners from capitalizing minerals and other resources of the region. Hasnain Ramal, Maj (retd) Hussain Shah, Col (retd) Wajahat Hassan, Nawaz Khan Naji, and many others had faced the music for dissenting views.
Advocate Ehsan Ali was arrested on frivolous charges last year just because he is the strongest voice of dissent and who defends the activists in courts against state repression.
Prime Minister Imran Khan requested Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman to release Pakistani prisoners stuck in Saudi jails during his recent visit to Pakistan with his royal entourage. Though Khan spoke for Pakistanis in Saudi jails yet the poor at home are behind bars on minor charges.
Most recently an Indian pilot Abhinandan was captured when he intruded Pakistan’s air space from Muzaffarabad sector and later set free as a “gesture of peace” that is appreciated worldwide.
People of GB are right in their demand that such magnanimity should also be demonstrated for progressive political leader Baba Jan of Hunza who has been serving a life term in Gahkuch jail since 2011 for voicing victims of Attabad Lake disaster and against the police brutality.
Baba Jan has been suffering from severe chest pain since July 2018. GB Government restrained him from angiography at Islamabad as the facility is unavailable in GB. He was taken to CMH Gilgit for examination of chest pain lately that too after a backlash in Pakistan, overseas and on social media for his deteriorating health.
Dr Asim Hussain, a former federal minister, and a PPP leader who is facing mega corruption charges, was allowed to go abroad for treatment but Baba Jan hasn’t been shifted to any city within the country for his medical treatment. Ostensibly no one seems interested to do justice to him.
Activists like Hasnain Ramal and Shafqat Inqalabi have been receiving life threats and are being spied on but who cares?
People like Rao Anwar, Sharjeel Memon, and other bigwigs have been provided relief as they belong to the ruling class. On the contrary political and progressive leaders of the disputed GB end up with intimidation, harassment, and jail for their legit socio-political efforts.
The discriminatory policy of the state — allowing the powerful elite to enjoy relief and perks despite being involved in mega scams while denying the poor and the helpless of their fundamental right to health — will aggravate the people of GB’s sense of deprivation and despair pushing them towards violence.

Mesum Qasmi is a resident of Gilgit-Baltistan and an engineer/telecom professional based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He can be reached at: masam31@gmail.com

]]>https://thehighasia.com/political-victimisations-in-gilgit-baltistan/feed/0Hopes for missing European climbers dimhttps://thehighasia.com/hopes-for-missing-european-climbers-dim/
https://thehighasia.com/hopes-for-missing-european-climbers-dim/#respondTue, 05 Mar 2019 06:37:36 +0000https://thehighasia.com/?p=4617ISLAMABAD: Hopes dimmed for two European climbers who went missing on Nanga Parbat as helicopters failed to spot signs of the mountaineers Monday, increasing fears that they may have perished.

Pakistani army helicopters that had earlier been grounded by foul weather scoured the peaks of Nanga Parbat for signs of Italian Daniele Nardi and Scotsman Tom Ballard, who have been missing since February 24 on the summit known as “Killer Mountain.”

The helicopters carried out an aerial search with the help of mountaineer Rehmatullah Baig — who was climbing with the missing men before turning back — but could not find anything.

“The helicopters flew for more than 30 minutes in the targeted area but there was no sign of life,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Baig said the Spanish team would begin a search with drones on Tuesday.

Ballard’s disappearance on the mountain with a peak of 8,126 meters (26,660 feet) has hit Scotland particularly hard because he is the son of Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to scale Mount Everest alone. She died at age 33 while descending the summit of K2, also part of the Himalayas.

Mountain guide Sandy Allan, who climbed with Hargreaves and knows Ballard, said he remains hopeful but admitted to having some “negative thoughts” after Monday’s rescue flights failed to locate the pair.

“I think people are getting really worried and very sad about the whole thing,” said Allan.

“He and his mother were very popular people. He was a little bit quiet, kept to himself, had some secret projects that he kept quiet, like all us climbers, but he was sociable and popular. I think most people liked him a lot.”

Allan said it was discouraging that the helicopter flights found nothing because if the two were alive in a snow cave they would likely have heard the helicopter and gone out to try to flag it down.

“They didn’t see any sign of human beings or camps,” said Allan of the army helicopter pilots. He said the missing climbers’ situation becomes “more and more precarious” by the hour because of the extreme cold and wind.

Nardi, 42, from near Rome, has attempted the Nanga Parbat summit in winter several times in the past. Ballard, 30, in 2015 is a skilled climber who became the first person to solo climb all six major north faces of the Alps in one winter.

Bad weather had foiled search plans on Sunday but as the skies cleared on Monday, two helicopters took off from the northern town of Skardu with four Spanish rescuers onboard.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Spaniard Alex Txikon and his three colleagues, including a physician, tried to find the missing climbers. They joined Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara who was already at base camp waiting for the search to begin.

“It’s very difficult to survive in that condition,” Haidri said. “It’s a big challenge for (a) mountaineer to climb in winter.”

Italian Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo told The Associated Press that the climbers are “two tough guys” and he hopes they can be found alive.

“It’s been a week,” he said. “There are known cases of mountaineers who had survived for longer than that.” But he also acknowledged that the summit is a “very difficult” one.

He said two Pakistani mountaineers were with the missing pair but had decided to turn back because they thought it was too dangerous.

Nardi and Ballard set out on February 22, making it to the fourth base camp the following day. The pair last made contact on Feb 24 from an elevation of some 6,300 meters (nearly 20,700 feet) on Nanga Parbat.

Pakistan dispatched search helicopters last week despite the closure of its airspace amid tensions with India in region of Kashmir.

]]>https://thehighasia.com/hopes-for-missing-european-climbers-dim/feed/0Hopes of finding two missing climbers on Nanga Parbat fadinghttps://thehighasia.com/hopes-of-finding-two-missing-climbers-on-nanga-parbat-fading/
https://thehighasia.com/hopes-of-finding-two-missing-climbers-on-nanga-parbat-fading/#respondSat, 02 Mar 2019 09:58:04 +0000https://thehighasia.com/?p=4567Herald ReportThe last position of the two missing climbers on Nanga parbat.

Hopes of tracing two climbers on Nanga Parbat dimming as the rescuers did not find any clue of the duo who went missing Sunday last on the second highest mountain peak in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Pakistan army helicopters have scuppered the mountainside for Italian climber Daniele Nardi, 42, and his British partner Tom Ballard, 30, though inclement weather and tensions with India have strained search efforts, media reports said.

Russian mountaineers on K2 offered to support the rescue mission on Friday, with flights scheduled after an agreement was reached with the Italian embassy and the Pakistani air force. The search will continue if the weather allows it, said Stefano Pontecorvo, the Italian ambassador to Pakistan.

The Italian ambassador said he is hopeful the search can continue again on Saturday. “What happened during the night is the Russian team… which found it was too dangerous to try (and find the men) on foot.

“The second option is Alex Txikon, the Basque climber, who had two years ago been on Nanga Parbat, has a team of three people with him — among them a doctor — and he also has these three drones with cameras and equipment to pick up traces of life.

Meanwhile, Spanish climber Alex Txikonhas offered to take part in the rescue operation. He has offered an idea to use drones to track from the air the area of ​​the Mummery spur, at about 6,000 meters.

The Basque climber has volunteered to fly to Nanga Parbat along with three others from his expedition team on K2, as close as possible to camp 1, to activate three high-powered drones, which he has brought to film his own expedition. The drones can operate at high altitude and will patrol the Mummery Spur, up to the plateau above and along all the hypothetical paths the missing climbers might have taken.

Txikon and his partners were not able to go on Friday because of issues over who is covering the rescue expenses. That has now been resolved. Nardi’s family has stepped up and the pickup flight to K2 Base Camp and then onto Nanga Parbat is scheduled for Saturday.

‘Today the weather was certainly not flyable from Nanga Parbat to K2 and back,” the ambassador twitted on Friday. “Tomorrow we hope to do that – bring him over with his equipment and he will be based in base camp and fly his drones over the area that both Nardi and Ballard could be found.

“If they find something then we’ll have to go and get them. It is a complicated process. Yesterday we got special permission to fly,” the envoy said.

Initial search plans were prevented on Thursday when Pakistan closed its air space after it shot down two Indian fighter jets, after aerial combat over the contested Kashmir region but two army helicopters were eventually drafted in.

An update posted to Nardi’s Facebook page Friday said there was still no sign of the two climbers.

Pakistani pilots released video footage of their search on the huge Diamer face:

Meanwhile the plan to transport Vassily Pivtsov and three members of his Russian-Kazakh-Kyrgyz K2 team to the site of the missing climbers’ wrecked tent at Camp 3 fell through, when the searchers looked at a video of the conditions and deemed the avalanche risk extreme.

Nanga Parbat base camp

Moreover, the weather has turned for the worse, wrapping Nanga Parbat in thick fog and bitter cold, the ExplorersWeb reported. Due to the great risk of avalanches it has been ruled out that the Russian-Kazakh-Kyrgyz team will be able to go to the Mummery spur area. It is considered to be more prudent the alternative of drones.

Two army helicopters made sorties over the spot where the climbers had pitched their tent. The army aviation helicopters crew was accompanied by veteran climber Ali Sadpara,who along with Simone Moro did summit Nanga Parbat in 2016 in winter.

The choppers dropped Sadpara and two other rescuers near the Base Camp, then returned to Skardu to refuel. The flight crew spotted the mountain swept by massive avalanches, and a broken orange tent where Camp 3 used to be.

Hopes of finding the climbers alive are dimming fast. The drones, at least, can look for them safely, without risking the lives of the searchers.

Some sources have compared this situation to the one on Nanga Parbat in 2018, when Tomasz Mankievicz perished but his partner, Elisabeth Revol, survived thanks to volunteers from K2, who abandoned their own climb to aid in the emergency. But this case differs in one essential way: Last year, the stranded climbers sent out a clear SOS call; this time, there has been no sign of the duo for nearly a week, reports the ExplorersWeb.

The last contact with Nardi and Ballard was Sunday, when they were about 6,300 meters above Camp 3. Since then all communication with them has been lost.

‘Mountaineering family’

Years before she died on the descent from K2, famed mountaineer Alison Hargreaves climbed the soaring, glacier-studded Eiger with her son Tom in her womb.

That would arguably be his first climb, made before he was born into a notably adventurous family. Hargreaves was the first woman ever to summit Everest without Sherpas or bottled oxygen, in May 1995. She was killed on K2 in a rash of bad weather three months later.

Tom Ballard followed in her footsteps at Eiger and five other major peaks in the Alps in 2015, becoming the first solo climber ever to conquer them all in one winter. Ballard was christened “the new king of the Alps,” the Telegraph announced soon after.

But now, about 100 miles southwest from where his mother died, Ballard, 30, has been missing along with his Italian climbing partner Daniele Nardi on Nanga Parbat — nicknamed “Killer Mountain” for its row of deaths and notoriously difficult terrain on the ninth-highest mountain in the world.

Noted climber from Gilgit-Baltistan, Ali Sadpara

Nanga Parbat, at 8,126 meters, has drawn both adventurers and rescue pilots to its slopes in recent years. Numerous deaths on the peak in the early and mid-20th century led to its nickname “Killer Mountain.”

In January, Ballard and Nardi arrived at Nanga Parbat to ascend the peak on a path that has never been successfully taken, according to a statement from Montane, a British clothing company that sponsors Ballard.

“They will be hoping to climb the infamous Mummery Spur — named after Albert F. Mummery, a French climber who in 1895 led the first attempt to climb the mountain,” the company wrote. He died on the mountain while scouting a path.

“His intended line remains unclimbed to this day,” Montane said.

Ballard was about 6 years old when his mother died, and he spent his early years untangling his motivations to scale the same mountains his famous mother once climbed.

“When I was young growing up at school I always said I would climb these mountains for her. But then I realised that was a little bit silly because she had already climbed them herself. I was only doing it for myself — every day I go out there is for me,” he told the Telegraph. “Unconsciously, she is one of the reasons why I wanted to do it — but only one of the reasons.”

His father, Jim Ballard, also a climber, appeared in “Tom,” a 2015 documentary about his son’s emergence from his family lineage to carve his own accomplishments.

“Tom never wanted to be anything else, for as long as he can remember, but a climber,” he said.

And in the film, Ballard reflected on his path. His mother, two years before her death, became the first solo climber ever to summit all six north faces of the Alps peaks in the summer, about a decade before her son did so in the winter.

“Since I was 10 all I wanted to do was to climb. Even before I was born I climbed the north face of the Eiger,” Ballard said. “So I think it’s not much a surprise what I do now.”

Alison Hargreaves with her two kids, Tom and Kate

The climb had already appeared arduous, even before the climbers went missing Sunday.

In a Jan. 19 Facebook photo by Ballard, a climber stopped for a rest on a snow-tipped mountainside. Snowflakes obscured his face.

“Well, what did you expect?” Ballard wrote. “It is winter on the ninth-highest peak in the world. No picnic.”

Friend Ian Sykes said Mr Ballard was a talented and experienced climber. Sykes, a climber, told BBC Scotland he was optimistic that the missing mountaineers would be found alive.

Ballard continued to base himself in Fort William until his 20s and established new climbing routes on Lochaber’s mountains.

He said Mr Ballard’s family moved to the Highlands to help with his mother’s climbing training. The family, including Mr Ballard’s sister Kate and their father Jim, also skied and climbed in the area.

Mr Skyes said: “They are very much a mountaineering family.

PAINFUL MEMORIES

The father of Ballard has said his son’s disappearance is bringing back painful memories of his wife’s death on K2 in 1995.

Jim Ballard said that he still holds out hope that his son will return home, even though finding him will be “like finding a green beer mat on the pitch at Twickenham”.

His wife, Alison Hargreaves, was the first woman to reach the top of Everest unaided. She died in 1995 aged just 33 during a descent from the peak of K2 and her body has never been found.

“This takes me back to those days,” Mr Ballard told The Times.

The 30-year-old climber moved to Scotland in 1995 with his sister Kate and grew up in Fort William in Lochaber.

Kate Ballard posted a message on Facebook thanking people across the world for their “love and thoughts”.

“Please join with me in positive thinking that my brother and Daniele will return safe,” she said.

He said: “One mustn’t write them off, there’s still hope that they are alive and that they are OK, admittedly in very dangerous circumstances.”

Ballard had been living in Italy’s Dolomites mountain range with his father for the past few years and is “regarded extremely highly in the climbing world”, according to online magazine Planet Mountain.

Alison Hargreaves and Jim Ballard with their children Tom and his sister Kate before her fatal descent of the mountain in 1995.

Temperatures on the mountain are said to be at least minus 40C, with winds ranging from 120mph to 200mph.

Jim told the Times he would not give up: ‘From the last phone call, seven to ten days is not unreasonable, even though he might be cold and not feeling too well.’

Sandy Allan, a family friend of Mr Ballard’s from Newtonmore in the Highlands, has climbed Nanga Parbat twice and said he is worried about the ‘competent mountaineer’.

Jim remains hopeful for his son despite temperatures plunging to minus 40C and winds at 200mph

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: ‘I knew Tom when he was younger and I’d climbed with him and his mother, Tom’s an exceptional climber, he’s not done a great deal in the Himalayas but he’s done enough to know how to look after himself very well.

‘Some people thought Tom was a little bit of a loner but he climbed to a very high standard and I suppose a lot of his routes were quite esoteric.

‘But he’s a normal human being with a passion for climbing.

‘It’s a lot colder and that makes it incredibly uncomfortable but if you’re a climber like Tom, it’s one of the big challenges for people to do so I can understand why he’d want to go there.’

As the people of Hunza are reeling from the 2010 Attabad disaster, another potential disaster is looming large in the valley. This time at Hassanabad Nullah, about 22km of Attabad.

Reports in mainstream and social media about the surging of Shisper Glacier in the western Karakoram Range of Gilgit-Baltistan have created fear among the local population.

The surge in the glacier was observed in June, 2018, when it blocked the water flow in Hassanabad Nullah (stream) creating a lake upstream. The water level in the lake is increasing fast, posing a threat to low-lying areas downstream.

Newly built water tank for hydropower generation at Hassanabad Nala. This tank is now submerged under the glacial snout. Photo credit: Ali Ahmed.

According to local disaster management and district administration officials as well as media persons, the snout of the glacier is surging at a rate of 7 meters per day and moving towards the Hassanabad village.

Blockage of the road to the upstream by the glacial snout. Photo credit: Ali Ahmed.

The glacier has moved 1,750 metres towards the villages in the last three months, Currently, the glacial snout is around 4 to 5km away from the village and is expected to reach the village anytime if the surge continues with the same pace, says an official in the Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority.

Location of Shisper Glacier at Hassanabad Nullah. Source Google maps

It has already damaged two powerhouses, water reservoirs rendering almost 80 per cent of population of Hunza without electricity. The glacier snout has also damaged the main channel which supplies water to the settlements of Aliabad, the headquarter of Hunza District, for drinking and irrigation purposes.

Either the glacier snout or the lake outburst may directly hit the Karakoram Highway (KKH), a bridge, 170 households, orchards, crop fields, a flour mill, water channels of Murtazabad and Hassanabad two powerhouses, a Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) camp office and hundreds of kanals of land, while it might block the flow of River Hunza.

Civil and military officials recently carried out an aerial visit of the Shisper Glacier to assess the emerging situation, vulnerability of infrastructure, houses and means of livelihood of the people of Hassanabad.

A team of experts has been monitoring the movement of the glacier and its effects through satellite and ground visits since November 2018.

In case of sudden rise in temperatures in June and July may result in rapid melting of the glacier and heavy discharge of water that may cause lake outburst. This may destroy installations downstream.

Glacier surge history

While scientific evidences indicate retreat of glaciers around the world due to global warming, some glaciers in the Karakoram Range are increasing thus named as “Karakoram anomaly”. Dozens of glaciers are expected to surge in future subsequently making the population residing in the shadow of these glaciers highly vulnerable.

Shisper Glacier surge was first recorded in 1906. The current surge of the glacier has been happening again after a century. However, the rapid surge has been observed since November 2018.

It originates from Batura, one of the highest mountain peaks lying in western Karakoram ranges. From Batura wall this glacier stretches southwest and is joined by tributary glaciers from eastern and western side and flows into Hassanabad Nullah. The water flow from a stream originating in nearby Muchuhur Glacier and drains into Hunza River while crossing the Hassanabad village located around 4.5km south of Aliabad.

Shimshal valley, located at an altitude of 3,100 meters (10,000 feet) altitude above sea level in the northeast of Hunza District is known for its periodic glacial-lake outbursts floods (GLOFs) causing massive damages downstream. The valley is home to five major glaciers — Verzherav, Khurdopin, Yukshin, Yazghel and Mulongudi — as well as a number of small glacier tributaries.

According to historical evidences, surging of Khurdopin Glacier has been colliding with Yukshin Gardan glacier and hit the rock blocking Verzherāv River and forming artificial lake for the last over 140 years. The earliest record of the lake outburst goes back to 1884. A series of outburst during 1906, 1917, 1929 and 1930 is recorded in different scientific publications as well as travel reports.

Shimshal Valley

However, local anecdotal evidences indicate formation and outburst of the lake in early 1920s, 1940s and 1960s that washed away half of Shimshal, Passu, Ganish settlements and also damaged agriculture land, settlements, bridges and roads downstream.

The glacier surged and blocked the Verzherav River for 6 months in 2017 and 2018 which ended with a sudden drainage of the lake damaging a bridge, parts of the only jeep able road, orchards and irrigated fields.

Climate thermometers

Glaciers are considered natural “thermometers” of climate as they depend on and behave according to the temperature and precipitation conditions.

Gilgit-Baltistan is situated in the most glaciated region outside Planet’s poles with 711 glaciers, double the number of glaciers in the Alps which cover 2,500 square kilometres.

In the Alps each and every glacier has been measured and monitored. However, not much research has been done in the Karakorams which cover 16,600 sq. kms. “There have been few focused studies in these mountains,” says Christopher Mayer of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

So how the glaciers surge. When a glacier surges, it moves faster than its normal pace. Some glaciers surge in cycles throughout a year, or only periodically, perhaps between 15 and 100 years.

Scientists say that currently most of the glaciers in Himalayan Range are rapidly losing mass due to global warming. However, the glaciers in the Karakoram Range are reacting differently and thus named as “Karakoram anomaly”. A team of researchers from Britain’s Newcastle University have attributed the anomaly to a summer “vortex” of cold air over the Karakoram mountain range.

Different scientific reports say more than 221 glaciers in Karakorams are surging presently or likely to surge in future.

According to Christopher Mayer, the glaciers in the Karakorams are covered by debris which protects the snout of the glacier from retreating and melting.

Sitara Parveen is an Assistant Professor of Geography and recently submitted her PhD thesis at the Institute of South Asia, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Her research focus has been on “Glacial fluctuation and its impact on the irrigation system and consequences for the livelihoods of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan”.

There are certainly many interesting tourist spots, mountains and landscapes in the world that attract millions of tourists every year. But there are certain spectacular views that attract only daredevil adventure-loving tourists. Among them are Trolltonga hanging or pulpit rocks in Norway and cliffs in China and Ireland which are very famous in the world.

Baltistan is also famous for its lofty snow-capped mountains, glaciers, and valleys that attract hundreds of international and domestic mountaineers and tourists.

There are many hidden tourist spots in Gilgit-Baltistan which have not yet been explored and promoted. A hanging rock and cold desert dunes in Skardu valley are among the new but less known attractions.
The rock located on a hilly vantage point in the upper mountainous area of Hussainabad has been discovered recently by some local explorers.

A local photographer Manzoor Balti has captured a photo of the rock about 200 meters above the mighty Indus River and Sarfa Ranga cold desert in Skardu which has become viral on social media.

“When I heard about the viewpoint, I rushed to the place and captured the images through the lens of my camera,” Mr Manzoor said.

There are many such fascinating viewpoints in Baltistan which have not yet been brought to fore. “I intend to discover such unique viewpoints to promote tourism in Baltistan.

Hussainabad village is located at a 10-minute drive from Skardu city. Its upper summer pastures — Baroque and Ispicho — are also famous tourist spots that attract local people and their families during the summer season.

The pastures are accessible with road links from Hussainabad village. The hanging rock is located on a hill above Hussainabad Baroque, at an hour’s hiking distance.

The department of tourism needs to document th rock and publicise it in its brocheurs and media to attract tourists as it could become a major tourist attraction and source of livelihood for the local people.

Norwegian Trolltunga rocks

Trolltonga is a rock formation hanging out 2,300 feet above Lake Ringedalsvatnet in Norway and majestic Preikestolen (preacher’s pulpit or rock). It has been declared as one of the world’s most spectacular viewpoints by Lonely Planet and BBC.

Legend has it that a cocky troll didn’t believe he would turn to stone when the sun came out and stuck his tongue out, making fun of the rising sun, when he was suddenly turned to stone.

The blockbuster Hollywood movie Mission Impossible: Fallout with Tom Cruise was also filmed on the top of Preikestolen. Its first premiere was also held there. Looking out over the Lysefjord from the pulpit rock is a lifetime experience.

The cliff is part of the Precambrian bedrock and was formed during the Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago, when the edges of the glacier reached the cliff. The water from the glacier froze in the crevices of the mountain and eventually broke off large, angular blocks, which were later carried away with the glacier.

Mountain bikers ride along the cliffs in Ireland, known as one of the most terrifying bike paths in the world.

Trolltunga (troll tongue) is a cliff jutting out at 1,100 meters above sea level and is a spectacular rock formation that stands horizontally out of the mountain about 700 meters above in Odda, Hordaland county, Norway.

Thousands of tourists visit Trolltunga during the four summer months, a number which has greatly increased to 100,000. No safety railing has been constructed on the edge of the cliff so as not to harm the natural beauty of the cliff, although a few small metal hooks have been installed as footholds to climb down to the rock.

On 5 September 2015, a 24-year-old Australian woman fell to her death off Trolltunga.

Moher cliffs in Ireland are also very famous. Mountain bikers ride along the cliffs, known as one of the most terrifying bike paths in the world.

AN: Massive protest was held at Ishkoman in the western Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan on Saturday against the failure of police and security agencies in arresting the main culprits involved in the brutal murder of a teenage boy after sexual assault.

Hundreds of people blocked the main road at Chatorkhand for hours chanting slogans against the failure of the police and security agencies in arresting the main culprits who have reportedly fled to the Kohistan District.

Political and social activists addressed the protesters and made scathing criticism on GB’s chief minister, his cabinet members, the district administration and the security apparatus for not arresting the real culprits after a lapse of over two weeks of the gruesome incident.

The speakers including Nawaz Khan Naji, the lone nationalist member of Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly from the district and others warned police and the security agencies to bring the culprits nominated by the victim’s father to justice and do justice to the aggrieved family.

They described the incident as an act of terrorism and questioned the capabilities and seriousness of the police which are quick enough to arrest political activists but are unable to arrest the criminals and terrorists.

The speakers also held some officials responsible for the rising crimes in the district who have been holding key positions for a long period. They also accused the officials of backing the criminals.

The victim’s father in his complaint filed with the Immit police station has nominated Farooq and Abdul Manan from Tashnalut village as the main suspects who are still at large.

He is apprehensive of the fairness of investigation as the culprits and their families may influence the investigation process.

Deedar Hussain, a 14 years old student of the seventh class of a local school had been abducted by a gang of eight and strangled after rape. The culprits dumped the victim’s body on the banks of Qurumbar River which was recovered from the river bed on February 6.

According to the preliminary police report, the boy had been molested before being killed.

Two of the eight suspectsOne of the suspect in police custodyOne of the suspects

The incident sparked massive protests and outrage across Gilgit-Baltistan and GB Diaspora in Pakistani cities on social media demanding ‘exemplary punishment’ for the culprits.

Following which the Immit police registered a case on the complaint of the victim’s father and arrested six of the eight suspects identified as Aziz, Mohammad Umer, Noor Azam, Gohar Aman, Sher Islam, and Abdul Latif.

The suspects belonged to Khelochay and Gujjar tribes, who are settled in the area after migrating from Kohistan district of KP. During the investigations, they confessed to their involvement in the crime.

A JIT has also been constituted in investigating the case.

The Cruel numbers

According to a report, 2,322 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in Pakistan between January and June 2018 compared to 1,764 incidents recorded the same period in 2017, indicating a 32pc increase in the crime. According to Sahil, a non-government organisation working for child rights, more than 12 children were abused every day. In its annual report ‘Cruel Numbers 2017’ Sahil noted that 3,445 children were sexually abused in 2017. Among them 2,077 were girls and 1,368 were boys.

The social malaise

The menace of child sexual abuse incidents is on the rise in Gilgit-Baltistan which according to Aziz Ali Dad, a social thinker and writer is pervasive in its society and become a part of a subculture of Gilgit-Baltistan’s society.

“Since the society is under the influence of false consciousness and values, its members are in denial mode that such evil exists within. The crime is occurring even in the remotest parts of rural areas in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The malaise of child sexual abuse is deeply rooted in the culture of Gilgit-Baltistan. If we delve deep into the cultural practices, deconstruct the language and dig deep into the archaeology of cultural mindset, we find a pattern of behaviour among a certain section of males who are engaged in paedophilia, molestation, and sodomy.

“To save children from predatory culture, it is imperative to get rid of prevailing mindset of society that harbours bad faith, dual morality, fallacies and libidinal urges within,” he says.

According to Aziz “we can create a healthy society for our future generation. Otherwise, the cesspool of society will keep producing predators who continue to devour innocent children for their carnal desires in the garb of puritan culture.”

]]>https://thehighasia.com/deedar-hussain-murder-case-massive-protest-at-chatorkhand-against-police-failure-in-arresting-key-suspects/feed/0The markhor: Between a majestic animal and an economic assethttps://thehighasia.com/the-markhor-between-a-majestic-animal-and-an-economic-asset/
https://thehighasia.com/the-markhor-between-a-majestic-animal-and-an-economic-asset/#respondSat, 16 Feb 2019 16:10:36 +0000https://thehighasia.com/?p=4292Trophy hunting has introduced a market ethic whereby the animal is seen in purely utilitarian terms.

Shafqat Hussain

The effect of trophy hunting on the overall population of markhor and ibex may be positive; however, there are other concerns that ecologists have with trophy hunting.

The recent news about trophy hunting of markhor and ibex in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has sparked intriguing public debates. Many have questioned the ethics of this practice, while others have asked about its social, ecological and economic impact.

The question of ethics in trophy hunting is an intractable one that I will not focus on here. Rather, I will look at the ecological and economic effects of trophy hunting in GB in its historical context.

Marcopolo sheep at Khunjerab National Park

Trophy hunting in GB is not new. In the second half of the 19th century, the princely state of Kashmir became a paradise for big game hunters of the British Raj. Visitors’ guides to Kashmir, as far back as 1884, mentioned the area around the valley for its potential for big game hunting of such charismatic species as markhor.

The markhor, a goat endemic to the region, was one of the most sought-after species of big game hunters for its unique trophy. A member of the Caprinae family, it is a wild goat with flaring horns that can reach a staggering length of five feet. The markhor was of particular attraction to the sportsmen who preferred it over its cousin, the Asiatic ibex.

By the end of the 19th century, intense hunting by British sportsmen had driven the Kashmir markhor to local extinction in the Pir Panjal range around the Vale of Kashmir.

The sportsmen now looked north towards Gilgit, Astore and Baltistan to continue their quest for markhor and ibex. Here, they shot markhor and ibex of all sizes with relative impunity. In some cases a single hunter shot more than 30 animals in one season.

Markhor suffered more than ibex in this British onslaught because the former stays at relatively lower altitudes and so is easy to hunt.

After being shot out in the Vale of Kashmir as early as the 1890s, markhor were now meeting the same fate in Gilgit and Baltistan.

A colonial legacy of patronage and hunting

In 1913, the Kashmir Game Preservation Department put a complete ban on markhor shooting in the Bunji Valley in Gilgit and Rondu Valley near Skardu, which harboured one of the biggest populations of the Astore markhor.

There are no reliable figures of the markhor and ibex population from that time to assess the impact of trophy hunting on the overall population, but it may be reasonable to assume that there were cases of local extinction due to overhunting.

Himalayan Ibex

One reason for this assertion is that unlike today, when there are legal limits on which animals can be shot — only markhor or ibex with a trophy of 38 inches or more can be shot — British sportsmen are reported to have shot animals with trophies in the lower 30s.

Trophy hunting by the British in this region was not only ecologically damaging, it also had a dark social underbelly. The dominant forms of transport on the Srinagar-Gilgit road at that time were pack animals and humans.

Prior to direct British involvement in the region, the Kashmir state had required the people of Baltistan, Astore and Gilgit to provide free labour, known as begar, to state officials travelling on the road.

While begar was ostensibly for official purposes and hence for officers of the Kashmir state and British Raj on official duties, in practice it was utilised by a much wider array of people.

One benefactor of this exploitative and draconian system was the British sportsman, who often used physical and violent means to recruit villagers to his hunting party as porters and game guides.

“In many places the natives will deny the existence of game, and will tell any number of lies to induce the traveler to leave their village and go to some other one… this anxiety to get rid of sportsmen is partly caused by the unwillingness of the people to furnish the supplies required by the travelers; but I fear that it is partly to be attributed to the conduct of Englishmen, who have thrashed or abused villagers for not showing game, when they were doing their best.”

There are several accounts of frustrated British hunters where they describe villagers fleeing to the mountains upon the approach of a hunting party. It would be an understatement to say that the villagers of that period did not see sportsmen and trophy hunting with a favourable eye.

The markhor is Pakistan’s national animal.

Harnessing conservation for development

Things have changed a lot over the last 100 years. Today, villagers across GB welcome hunting parties to their villages and are eager to participate in the trophy hunting programme that was started by the government in the 1990s.

The programme has had a positive economic impact on the participating communities. Under this arrangement, the communities were asked to take actions to protect the ibex and markhor populations in their areas in return for a share of revenue generated by the sale of hunting licenses to international and national hunters.

Initially, six communities were selected under this programme, and today more than 40 communities participate in it throughout GB.

Under the scheme, communities receive 80 per cent of the licence fee and the GB government gets 20pc. In the 1990s, the license fee for a markhor hunt was around $25,000; today it is over $100,000.

The license fee for ibex is $3,000 for international hunters, and Rs100,000 for Pakistani nationals. No Pakistanis have purchased shooting licenses for markhor given the high cost.

Each year around 60 hunting permits for ibex and four hunting permits for markhor are issued in GB. Out of the 60 permits for ibex, about 10pc to 15pc are reserved for national hunters.

The money from trophy hunting is distributed to the participating communities at the end of the hunting season in April-May. This money has served as a strong incentive for communities to protect the markhor and ibex in their areas.

In the initial years, there were some hiccups in the programme when some communities stopped getting their share of the revenue, but today the local communities reliably get paid within six months of the hunt.

In the summer of 2017, my students carried out a survey in the Gojal region about local perceptions of trophy hunting programmes.

In many villages, we were told that everyone has a ‘share’ of the money raised through the trophy hunting programme. Villagers no longer hunt animals themselves, although they did in the past.

One villager informed us, “previously, the animal would be brought to the village secretly, and was consumed by the family and acquaintances of the hunter, with no benefit to the rest of the village.”

Now, they all benefit. They told us that if a villager does shoot an animal illegally, the entire village takes action and cases end up in court.

In another village, we were told that the money from trophy hunting goes to a fund and then used on a variety of projects. For example, “the money was used to build a guesthouse that cost Rs1.3 million, fund healthcare, provide scholarships and provide loan[s] at low interest rates for people to start businesses such as grocery stores and small restaurants.”

In Khyber village, we were told that every adult in the community, man and woman, receives an equal share of the trophy hunting money. They told us about the irrigation canal project completed with the community paying Rs50 million for it.

Now, all the local “ex-hunters” accompany the hunter with the permit to assist and monitor. One person said, “this resulted in an increase in the ibex population, as now they can be easily seen even in our fields”.

These interviews shows that the core issue in the success of any good trophy hunting programme is the control and allocation of economic and financial resources that flow from this activity.

Limits of market-based conservation

Ecologically, it seems that the trophy hunting programme has had a mixed impact.

It is estimated that when the programme was scaled up in the 1990s, there were around 100 markhor in GB. Today, GB government officials claim that the number is close to 1,200. The ibex population has been reported to have seen a similar rise; GB wildlife department officials say that it stands at more than 10,000.

While some contest the reliability and validity of these figures, the officials state that they are based on the wildlife population surveys it carries out twice a year. These surveys are conducted in conjunction with representatives of communities and NGOs. In these surveys, the department determines the population of trophy-sized animals and sets the quota for each area accordingly.

While government survey reports are to be taken with a pinch of salt, it seems from the testimonies from people on the ground that the population of these species is indeed increasing.

The effect of trophy hunting on the overall population of markhor and ibex may be positive; however, there are two other concerns that ecologists have with trophy hunting.

The first concern is that because of selective hunting of the biggest male trophies, over time, the average trophy size decreases — thus affecting population fitness. This may or may not be true of Pakistan’s trophy hunting programme because despite its seeming success, there is no study which has looked at this relationship. It would require charting the the size of all markhor and ibex trophies over the last 20 years or so.

Testimonies from people on the ground indicate that the markhor population is indeed increasing.

The second concern with trophy hunting is its effect on snow leopards and wolves, the main predators of markhor and ibex. Farmers already see these predators as a threat because they kill domestic livestock. Incentives created through trophy hunting have added intensity to this preexisting negative relationship between farmers and predators in the region.

In our interviews, villagers complained that the snow leopards are eating their markhor which are worth “aik lakh dollar.”

This new conflict shows the limitations and challenges of incentives or market-based programmes for wildlife management.

The incentives created through the trophy hunting programme have introduced a new ethic in the concerned communities whereby their relationship with ibex and markhor is redefined. This new relationship is based on market ethic and rationality, in which these species are seen in purely utilitarian terms.

People now protect their wild game species not as God’s creation, but as an economic asset.

In this new situation, then, other wildlife species, such as snow leopards and wolves, which are important for the health of an ecosystem but do not provide any economic benefits to people, become useless and not worth protecting.

What should the government do?

There are some regulatory steps that the wildlife department can take to ensure that only those villages will get the permit where there is no persecution of predators. But this is very hard to monitor and requires periodic surveys and equipment which GB wildlife department lacks.

For now, one can only rely on the goodwill of the communities that they will provide protection to all wildlife and not just those which bring in economic benefits.

This feature was first published in Dawn’s Prism section on Feb 15, 2019.

Shafqat Hussain is an associate professor of anthropology at Trinity College, US. He worked as the administrator of UNDP/GEF project that introduced trophy hunting in Gilgit-Baltistan in the 1990s. He is the author of the groundbreaking book, Remoteness and Modernity: Transformation and Continuity in Northern Pakistan. His next book, The Snow Leopard and the Goat: Politics of Conservation in the Western Himalayas, will be published in the Summer 2019.

American hunter Bryan Kinsel Harlan poses with the goat, known as a markhor, in pictures published in Pakistani media. Several US trophy hunters have drawn criticism over social media for their photos of big game kills. (Blair Guild/The Washington Post)

An American trophy hunter has sparked outrage after reportedly paying $110,000 for a permit to kill a rare mountain goat in Pakistan, before posing with the dead animal after the hunt.

A video posted to social media shows Bryan Kinsel Harlan climbing through mountains in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit region, before shooting at the goat, high-fiving with guides and then pulling the animal up by its horns.

The photograph, published last week in Pakistani newspapers, was stunning. It showed a magnificent mountain goat, with huge, symmetrically spiral horns, nestled on a rock and surrounded by breathtaking snowy mountains, with a man kneeling and smiling behind it.

It took a few seconds to realize that the animal, a wild Astore markhor, was dead. The caption described the man as an American hunter who had paid a record $110,000 to shoot it on a tourist expedition to Gilgit-Baltistan.

“It was an easy and close shot. I am pleased to take this trophy,” the hunter, identified as Bryan Kinsel Harlan, was quoted as saying. His home state or city was not identified, but his Pakistani guides said he is from Texas. Harlan could not be reached by The Washington Post for comment.

The story drew immediate expressions of sorrow and indignation on social media here. Some Pakistani commentators asked why there was no legal ban on hunting the markhor (Capra falconeri), which is the official national animal. Others suggested that foreign tourists be taken to photograph the exotic goats, not shoot them.

But there is another, more benign, rationale behind allowing Harlan, along with two other Americans, to pay enormous sums to kill three long-horned markhors in northern Pakistan in the past month. According to Pakistani officials and conservation groups, the practice has actually helped save a rare and endangered species from potential extinction.

For decades, the population of markhors, which are native to the Himalayan ranges of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, has been dwindling, the result of local poaching for meat, deforestation and logging, military activities, competition with livestock and uncontrolled domestic trophy hunting for their splendid horns. By 2011, there were only an estimated 2,500 markhors left.

Several years ago, regional officials and conservationists began taking action to save them. India designated five sanctuaries for markhors in the mountainous border state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan banned all local hunting but started allowing a small number of foreign hunters to shoot 12 male goats per season in “community conservation areas” in Gilgit and elsewhere.

American hunter Bryan Kinsel Harlan poses with an Astore markhor, a mountain goat found in the Himalayan ranges of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, that he killed this month as part of a conservation program. Harlan paid $110,000 to shoot the goat, with the funds to be distributed to impoverished residents in the goats’ habitat areas. (Tabarak Ullah/Tabarak Ullah)

Most of the funds are supposed to be distributed to the impoverished, isolated residents in the goats’ mountainous habitat areas, which get 80 percent of the fee as well as income as hunting guides and hosts — all extra incentive not to poach the markhors. Government wildlife agencies get 20 percent.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, in an effort to encourage U.S. trophy hunting of markhors as a conservation method, also reclassified the animal as “threatened,” rather than endangered, which allowed hunters to bring back trophies such as their horns, which can grow as long as five feet.

As a result, the markhor populace had rebounded enough by 2015 that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature upgraded the species from endangered to “near-threatened.” According to the conservationist website Green Global Travel, the comeback of the markhor is “one of the world’s great but little known conservation success stories.”

Pakistan has a mixed track record on protecting rare and endangered animals. Officials routinely allow parties of royals from Qatar and Saudi Arabia to shoot internationally protected birds called houbara bustards (chlamydotis undulata), which Pakistanis are banned from hunting. In 2014, a Saudi prince reportedly shot more than 2,000 bustards despite having a permit to kill just 100, creating an international uproar.

In Pakistan’s public zoos, neglect and disease have periodically led to the deaths of exotic animals. In the past four years, the main zoo in Islamabad has lost several zebras, lion cubs, an ostrich and deer. In the past month, four antelopes called ­nilgais have died of cold or infections. There are numerous private zoos in Pakistan, where wealthy people keep wild cats and other animals without supervision.

In some other countries, promoting trophy hunting as a conservation tactic has backfired, with some programs charging high fees but failing to regulate the hunts. The Tasmanian tiger was reportedly driven to extinction in its native Australia by intensive hunting that was rewarded with generous bounties.

But in Pakistan, the tactic seems to have been unusually successful. Tabarakullah, a professional hunter from Gilgit who has guided Harlan and other Americans, said the high-priced permit funds are used for local health and education as well as preserving species.

“This is not just about hunting,” Tabarakullah said in a telephone interview. “The number of animals is increasing, and these foreign hunters are millionaires who go back and tell the world that Pakistan is safe.” He noted that after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, foreign visits to Pakistan fell sharply. “Now, more and more tourists are coming.”

Harlan, for one, appears to see himself as participating in a conservation effort as well as an exotic escapade.

In a video recorded on his recent visit to Gilgit, Harlan was shown climbing a cliff, shooting a male markhor that was sitting next to a young goat, and then high-fiving his local guides.

In another, wearing a feathered local cap and robe, Harlan said he had been “welcomed with open arms” and encouraged other Americans to follow him, calling Pakistan a safe place for tourists. “This is a perfect example of hunters and villagers coming together for a common goal of game conservation,” he said.

On January 20, another American Diada Christopher Anthony had also hunted a record 48 inches long flared-horned (Astore) Markhor at Jutial Conservancy, 2km off capital city Gilgit. This was the second hunt of the four markhor permits issued by the GB government for the current hunting season and 5th trophy hunt in Jutial Conservancy since the start of the community-based markhor conservation programme 15 years ago, said Mayor Khan, a consevatioinist.

Some officials of the GB Wildlife Department, parks and conservation managers consider “trophy hunting a form of ecotourism — which is low impact, but a high value activity”.

The hunter had paid $105,000 (Rs14.59 million) in an open auction to get the hunting permit. Eighty percent (80%) of the fee will go to the Jutial Wildlife Conservation and Social Development Organization, with technical support and guidance of the GB Parks and Wildlife Department and the Wildlife Conservation Society-Pakistan (WCS-Pakistan), said a statement issued by the organisation.

“We never thought that people of Jutial will ever be able to realize monetary benefits from use of our wildlife resources, said the Habibur Rehman, chairman of the Jutial community-based organisation. He attributed this to the WCS-Pakistan and the Wildlife Department for the technical support they have provided over last 15 years for conserving natural resources, he added.

The community share of the permit fee we get will be used for wildlife conservation, health, education and community development activities as envisaged under our conservation and development action plan. In fact, Markhor is paying for the socio-economic development of the Jutial Conservancy, Mr Rehman said.

According to a survey, conducted in January 2019 by the organisation 113 markhor, including six big trophy-size males were spotted in Jutial Conservancy showing an increase in markhor population, said Mayoor Khan, Country Programme Manager, WCS-Pakistan.

Jutial Conservancy in the Hindu Kush mountain range is home to several important wildlife species like snow leopard, markhor, musk deer, ibex, and woolly flying squirrel. The trophy hunting is not only paying for markhor conservation, but also for the protection of snow leopard. It is “trade off” for the community as it will contribute to livestock insurance scheme to mitigate livestock losses from snow leopard and help in promoting ecotourism in the Jutial Conservancy for which GB Government has already taken steps to encourage viewing wildlife and natural beauty in the vicinity of Gilgit city at half an hour distance from Gilgit Serena, said Raja Arif, DFO Wildlife Gilgit.

This feature was first published in the Washington Post, February 12, 2019.

Turkish and Ukrainian skiers make their way to a slope to compete in the CAS Karakoram International Alpine Ski Cup, at the PAF Naltar Ski Resort, some 25km north of Gilgit. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)

Turkish skier Berkin Usta takes part in the CAS Karakoram International Alpine Ski Cup, at the PAF Naltar Ski Resort, some 25km north of Gilgit. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)Ukrainian skier Anastasia Gorbunova takes part in the CAS Karakoram International Alpine Ski Cup. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)

Dozens of athletes recently took part at the rare international competition in the country, which boasts some of the world’s highest mountains but remains off-piste for most winter sports enthusiasts after years of conflict and a lack of infrastructure.

Iinternational skiers practice ahead of the competing in the CAS Karakoram International Alpine Ski Cup. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)Children ski on a snow-covered street — with wooden sticks set up to practice the slalom — next to their homes near the slopes where the CAS Karakoram International Alpine Ski Cup at Naltar Ski Resort. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)Local children ski on a snow-covered street — with wooden sticks set up to practice the slalom — next to their homes near the slopes at Naltar, some 25km north of Gilgit, the capital city of Gilgit-Baltistan. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)

Nestled in the Karakoram mountain range, the Naltar Ski Resort has been at the heart of Pakistan’s efforts to draw winter sport tourists since the first international competition was held there in 2015.

Ageneral view of the snow-covered homes in the Naltar Valley. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)

“Pakistan has a lot of things to learn but with every year it’s getting better,” said Ukrainian skier Anastasiia Gorbunova, who admitted she used to think it was a pretty dangerous country.

A security personnel looks on during the CAS Karakoram International Alpine Ski Cup at Naltar Ski Resort. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)

“Now I know it’s a cliche because as I saw, people are sweet, they are nice, they try to make you feel like you’re at home and I appreciate that.”

Security has dramatically improved across the country following a crackdown on militant groups in recent years.

Authorities recently re-opened another resort in the nearby Swat Valley that had been closed for years by insurgent activity, while other ski facilities are being developed elsewhere in the country.

Laura Moore, a representative of the International Ski Federation with the Azerbaijan team, said Pakistan boasted unrivalled ski conditions.

But she added that lengthy road travel and the regular grounding of flights during inclement weather made access to ski fields a tricky prospect — “off-piste and maybe with a helicopter”.

“I think it’s definitely more for the adventurer,” Moore said at Sunday’s competition.

Pakistan is home to several peaks higher than 8,000 metres including K2, the second-tallest mountain in the world. Skiers at the Naltar event were hosted by the Pakistan Air Force, who own the ski resort and facilitated their transport from the capital Islamabad.

“Not all countries have mountains like this,” Berkin Usta, a Turkish skier who won the men’s Grand Slalom event. “It’s really good.”

]]>https://thehighasia.com/international-skiers-all-praise-after-naltar-ski-competition/feed/0Protests continue for treatment, release of Baba Jan and othershttps://thehighasia.com/protests-continue-for-treatment-release-of-baba-jan-and-others/
https://thehighasia.com/protests-continue-for-treatment-release-of-baba-jan-and-others/#respondSun, 10 Feb 2019 08:16:23 +0000https://thehighasia.com/?p=4107Protesters call for an end to intimidation of progressive political activists and removal of names of Allama Hassan Johari, Shahzad Agha, Shabbir Mayar and others from ATA’s Schedule Four.

HAH Report

Protest outside NPC Islamabad for release of political prisoners and treatment of Baba Jan.

ISLAMABAD: Political and youth activists and progressive parties continue to protest for immediate checkup and treatment of imprisoned political leader Baba Jan and against intimidation of progressive and nationalist activists through draconian laws by Gilgit-Baltistan government.

Protests were held in different cities of Pakistan on Saturday demanding immediate shifting of Baba Jan, a leader of the Awami Workers Party Gilgit-Baltistan (AWP-GB) who is incarcerating in Gahkuch jail of Gilgit-Baltistan to Islamabad for medical examination and treatment.

They expressed dissatisfaction over the checkup of Baba Jan conducted at CMH Gilgit on Thursday.

They demanded removal of names of Allama Hassan Johari, Shahzad Agha, Shabbir Mayar and others from Schedule-4 of the ATA and an end to harassment of political activists.

Tahira Habib Jalib with comrades at the protest for Baba Jan at Lahore

In Lahore, a protest was organized by Gilgit-Baltistan Youth Alliance, the Baltistan Movement, Progressive Youth Movement that was participated by a large number of youth belonging to Gilgit-Baltistan.

The protesters also demanded that the immediate transfer of Baba Jan to a hospital in Islamabad for treatment.

In Islamabad a large number of people from Gilgit-Baltistan staged a protest outside the National Press Club, here on Saturday seeking withdrawal of draconian laws being used against political activists.

They also demanded shifting of Baba Jan to Islamabad. The protest call was given by the Baltistan Awami Action Committee and others.

The protesters demanded release of all ‘political’ prisoners, including Baba Jan, who they said was a heart patient and should be shifted to Islamabad for treatment.

Atif Tauqeer’s twitt

Leaders of BAA, AWP-GB, JKLF, JKPNP, JKSLF, including Najaf Ali, Muhammad Anwar, Shabbir Mayar Shafqat Inquilabi, and others spoke on the occasion and criticized the federal and GB governments for their inordinate delay in shifting of Baba jan to Islamabad for treatment.

They condemned the GB government for intimidating political and religious activists by including their names in Schedule-4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, a draconian law meant to restrict movement of terrorists.

They endorsed a number of resolutions demanding withdrawal of ATA and other draconian laws from GB, setting up of local authority in GB as per UNCIP resolutions, independent judiciary and legislature.

Speaking on the occasion, Arsalan Javed said it was unfortunate that people were put in Schedule 4 for raising voice for their rights.

Advocate Athar said the people of Gilgit-Baltistan had never been involved in terrorism.

The protesters also demanded the international community to take notice of the atrocities being meted out in the India-held Kashmir.

They said that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan were peace-loving and would continue making efforts for their rights in a peaceful manner.

Baba Jan and 12 others are in jail for the last seven years for raising voice for the rights of the disaster-affected people who were displaced in the aftermath of a landslide at Attabad, Hunza in 2010.

Baba Jan is the longest serving political prisoner in Gilgit-Baltistan. For seven years Baba Jan has been unfairly kept in jail on trumped up charges.

On 25th of September 2014 Baba Jan and 11 other activists were sentenced to life imprisonment by an Anti-Terrorism Court. Baba Jan has been sentenced because of his continued activism in support of the oppressed people of the region.

The petition has been signed by internationally known intellectuals, academics, writers, journalists and lawyers including Noam Chomsky, Ehsan Ali advocate, Mohammad Ali Talpur, Amel Ouaissa, Sadia Abbas, Tariq Ali, Muhammad Hanif, Aziz Ali Dad, Farooq Tariq, David Graeber, Pervaiz Vandal, David Barsamian calling upon the Pakistan Government to release the political prisoners.

They have also called to publish the findings of the judicial inquiry into the killing of Afzal Baig and Sherullah Baig (father and son who were shot dead by the police) and to bring to justice those who are responsible for their killing.

“We call on activists locally and internationally to protest the decision of the court, which is punishing innocent citizens and letting the police go free.

“Baba Jan and the other activists are being made an example to stop the people of Gilgit-Baltistan from protesting for their political and human rights.

“We demand, above all, that the sentence be abrogated. It is contrary to all concepts of justice that murderers be promoted into higher stations within the police force, that judicial reports not be furnished to families of the victims and that community leaders be imprisoned for life. We stand in solidarity with the political prisoners of Gilgit-Baltistan,” the petition read.